The present invention relates generally to protective comers and, more particularly, to protective comers to adhere to a comer of a book, poster, prospectus, folder, posted notice, or any document or thing prone to wear and tear or mutilation through normal use.
Books and paper documents, and virtually countless other paper and other products, have corners which can become worn, mutilated, unraveled, torn or otherwise destroyed through normal use. Similarly, tacking, taping and other mounting methods can damage the comers of documents. Such untimely destruction can unnecessarily shorten the useful life of the document, book, etc. Unfortunately, no known device existed prior to the present invention which provided an inexpensive, easily mountable, non-yellowing protection device which provides continuing protection to comers. Often, paperback books and novels, or other documents which are read and used repeatedly over long periods of time, had to be replaced or simply discarded. The present invention provides an inexpensive, convenient device which protects and/or repairs the corners of a book or document, for example, to greatly increase the useable life of the book or document. The present invention further provides methods for inexpensively and efficiently mass-producing the corner protectors.
The only known devices which utilize a structure and an adhesive capable of bonding to a comer are (1) Mounting Comers manufactured by Light Impressions of Rochester, N.Y. shown graphically at FIG. 19a, and (2) Vinyl Comers made by Pioneer Photo Albums, Inc., of Chatsworth, Calif., shown graphically at FIG. 19b. Neither of these products teaches the inventions described herein. The Light Impressions product consists of a strip of plastic material with adhesive on the outer edges thereof. The Light Impressions product does not form a discreet comer pocket as does each embodiment of Applicant""s invention. The Pioneer Photo product appears to be a vinyl product with a performed comer, but with adhesive on a backside thereof. It is intended to mount pictures. It cannot protect a comer because of the way the adhesive is preformed and because they are no flaps or other means to allow it to adhere properly to a comer.
The present invention provides protection devices and methods for corner protectors in many forms. A preferred embodiment of the present invention comprises a relatively firm strip or band of polymeric material which has been preformed having a comer pocket into which a comer to be protected can be inserted, and an adhesive area to adhere the strip to the book or other document or product to be protected, reinforced or repaired. The strip preferably has a flap extending from a fold line about which the flap may be folded so that the flap can adhere to the book or document and provide further support and protection to the document or book. The flap portion of the strip and the adhesive can be positioned such that the flap adheres to either the front or back side of the book, or document. In certain instances, the protective comer has an area of view, which may include an advertisement, notice, logo, company name, security code, bar code, inventory, file number or any other useful information. Further, the protective comers of the present invention can be constructed of translucent or opaque colored material so that files, documents, etc., can be readily organized and retrieved by color coordination.
The present invention also provides methods to efficiently produce the devices of the present invention in mass quantities.